Elton John remains atop the list of the biggest selling singles in British recording history as the Official Charts Company updates their definitive list.
We last looked at the list in August 2010 and little has changed at the top with just a couple of small position changes based on records ongoing popularity in the digital realm. There are now 145 records that have sold one million or more in the U.K. between November 1952 and today with the newest being Adele’s Rolling in the Deep (her second million seller), Rihanna’s Diamonds (her fourth) and Pharrell’s Happy (his third, all in the last year). Rihanna is second only to the Beatles, who have six, in the number of million sellers in the U.K.
Don’t look for Elton John’s Something in the Way You Look Tonight / Candle in the Wind ’97 to fall from the top anytime soon. Fueled by his performance of the classic Candle at the funeral of Princess Diana, the record has sold 4.9 million. Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? is the second biggest but is behind by 1.2 million while Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, in third, is 2.5 million behind Elton.
The top 50 with the song’s position in 2010 in parenthesis:
1. (1) Candle in the Wind (1997)/Something In the Way You Look Tonight – Elton John
2. (2) Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Band Aid
3. (3) Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
4. (4) Mull of Kintyre/Girls School – Wings
5. (6) You’re the One That I Want – John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
6. (7) Relax – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
7. (5) Rivers of Babylon/Brown Girl in the Ring – Boney M
8. (8) She Loves You – Beatles
9. (11) Love is All Around – Wet Wet Wet
10. (9) Mary’s Boy Child – Boney M
11. (10) Unchained Melody/(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover – Robson & Jerome
12. (12) I Just Called to Say I Love You – Stevie Wonder
13. (14) Barbie Girl – Aqua
14. (15) I Want to Hold Your Hand – Beatles
15. (13) Anything is Possible/Evergreen – Will Young
16. (16) Believe – Cher
17. (17) (Everything I Do) I Do It For You – Bryan Adams
18. (18) Last Christmas/Everything She Wants – Wham!
19. (21) Imagine – John Lennon
20. (19) Summer Nights – John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
21. (28) I’ll Be Missing You – Puff Daddy & Faith Evans (Featuring 112)
22. (20) Two Tribes – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
23. (29) I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston
24. (25) Don’t You Want Me – Human League
25. (22) Perfect Day – Various Artists (Charity Record for Children in Need)
26. (27) Three Lions – Baddiel, Skinner & the Lightning Seeds
27. (24) Can’t Buy Me Love – Beatles
28. (26) …Baby, One More Time – Britney Spears
29. (33) My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion
30. (46) Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
31. (23) Tears – Ken Dodd
32. (–) Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke Featuring TI & Pharrell
33. (–) Someone Like You – Adele
34. (30) Karma Chameleon – Culture Club
35. (40) Gangsta’s Paradise – Coolio
36. (31) YMCA – Village People
37. (32) Careless Whisper – Wham!
38. (–) Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 Featuring Christina Aguilera
39. (–) Somebody That I Used to Know – Goyte Featuring Kimbra
40. (34) (We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock – Bill Haley & the Comets
41. (39) The Power of Love – Jennifer Rush
42. (36) The Carnival is Over – Seekers
43. (35) I Feel Fine – Beatles
44. (42) Killing Me Softly – Fugees
45. (37) Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out – Beatles
46. (–) I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas
47. (38) Release Me – Engelbert Humperdinck
48. (–) Wonderwall – Oasis
49. (45) Come On Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners
50. (–) It Wasn’t Me – Shaggy Featuring Rikrok
Read more at VVN Music
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